Last month twenty three years ago, Linus Pauling, whose illustrious and continuously evolving journey of life that spanned almost the entire twentieth century bed adieu to the world. As a budding teenager he was drawn to the world of science and remained faithful to its ways till almost his last breath, during which he contributed prodigiously in a splendidly wide and diverse fields of science. Scientists For Society remembers him not only for his scientific contributions but as a scientist with a social concern, who was not afraid to be unconventional and unorthodox when the need arose, who did not practice science from lofty ivory towers, but took to streets as well to pursue his social and political commitments, never compromising and cowering down to the powers of the day or subdued by the criticism even from his fellow scientists and, when things came to loggerheads he never thought twice while stepping down from Cal-tech university-one of his almamaters. It was the arena of his illustrious career for more than three decades and from whose lanes and by lanes, he conducted most of his ground breaking experiments and researches.
We remember Pauling as the founder of Quantum Chemistry, for the concepts of hybridization of atomic orbitals and tetra-valency of carbon, for the famous Pauling electronegativity scale, for his contributions on the concept of resonance in explaining the structure of aromatic hydrocarbons. In the field of molecular biology he did pioneering works in the discovery of the role of complementarity in binding of anti body and antigen, in replication of DNA helix. His discovery of sickle cell anaemia as a molecular disease opened the way for the evolution of molecular genetics. We remember him for his discoveries of alpha helix and beta sheet as a foundation for the study of protein structure, and the list goes on. He is remembered for his dedication and perseverance in a number of research works which did not meet with success but which helped immensely in deepening the understanding of his fellow scientists.
Pauling could not avoid working on military research projects but there also had original contributions, designed Pauling Oxygen Meter which was later put to application as Oxygen Analyser for use in incubators of premature babies, developed a possible replacement of human blood plasma in transfusion.
The aftermath of the Manhattan project and the persistent influence of his wife Ava Pauling pacifist activism made a profound change in Pauling’s life and priorities without abandoning any scientific works he increasingly devoted his time as a peace activist together with his wife, it started with advocating banning of use and making of nuclear weapon, but eventually evolved into a call for an end to war itself. In this period he joined Einstein, Bertrand Russel and other fellow scientists and intellectuals. Pauling denounced the Vietnam War as unnecessary and unconstitutional, made speeches, signed protest letters, personally communicated with the leader of Vietnam revolution Ho Chi Minh. He and his wife continued their peace activism and founded the International League Of Humanist.
Lastly we see Pauling as individual who was aware of contradictions in life and society and always used his scientific acumen in understanding them and changing the course of his life accordingly. He had an open mind to all aspects of human life and rarely took things for granted. He was raised as a member of the Lutheran church but two years before his death, he publicly declared his atheism. He was awarded unshared Nobel prize twice, the first in science and the second for his peace endeavours. Pauling wrote the book how to live longer and feel better, he himself lived a long life, a life worth emulating. He died of prostate cancer at the mature age of 93. Although he throughout believed and promoted use of Vitamin C in cancer therapy and took upon long meticulous researches in this field, it remains inconclusive till date.
- Debashish
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